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VCU Senate backs U.Va. colleagues

David Fauri, president of the VCU Faculty Senate, sent the following letter to George Cohen, his counterpart at the University of Virginia, in the wake of this summer’s attempted ouster of U.Va. President Teresa Sullivan by the institution’s Board of Visitors.

September 5, 2012

Dear Professor Cohen:

I write on behalf of the Faculty Senate of Virginia Commonwealth University. We would like to commend you and the University of Virginia Faculty Senate for actions taken this past summer to uphold principles of shared governance. At a time when the Commonwealth and the nation watched events unfold at the University of Virginia, your Faculty Senate, with other stakeholders, displayed respect for inclusive decision processes in governance of a complex academic institution. This recognized the right of critical stakeholders to be engaged in critical decisions affecting university mission and the direction of university life. This year the Virginia Commonwealth University Faculty Senate is making shared governance its major theme, and we are cooperatively engaged in this with our administration and University decision bodies.

Sincerely,

David P. Fauri, President
Faculty Senate
Virginia Commonwealth University

Cohen, the Brokaw Professor of Corporate Law at the U.Va. School of Law, replied the following day:

Dear Professor Fauri,

Thank you so much for your gracious letter. I will have it posted on our website and Facebook page. We are proud to have the support of our colleagues at VCU. Please let me know if there is anything we can do to support your efforts.